Fellowships

Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Educational Activities: The Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Seminar and other academic conferences have been designed to provide fellows an exposure to a wide variety of topics in the field:

The Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship SeminarThis seminar takes place weekly and is in tutorial style. The seminar covers core topics in addiction psychiatry specified in a curriculum outlined by the American Psychiatric Association Textbook of Substance Abuse Treatment (Galanter M, Kleber HD, Eds. APPI Press, Inc., 2008, 4th Edition). Each fellow is provided with this textbook and asked to prepare the chapters from the text assigned to the weekly seminars. Seminar leaders also assign additional readings as appropriate to their topics. Faculty conducting the seminars include leading clinicians, educators, and researchers across Harvard Medical School’s teaching hospitals as well as faculty from other institutions such as Boston University and Brandeis University.

Core topics in this seminar include:Epidemiology of substance use disorders; Findings from neuroimaging; Neuropharmacology of addiction; Psychosocial treatment modalities such as psychodymanic psychotherapy , cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, relapse prevention, self-help such as Alcoholics Anonymous alcohol; Pharmacotherapy of substance use disorders such as suboxone treatment of opioid use disorders; methadone maintenance treatment; pharmacotherapy of detoxification; pharmacotherapy of alcohol use disorders; Specific substances of abuse such as alcohol and other CNS depressants; amphetamines, methamphetamine, and cocaine; opioids and narcotic analgesics; prescription drug abuse; hallucinogens; cannabis; club drugs; nicotine; Treatment of substance use and co-occurring disorders; substance abuse in special populations such as adolescents, women, geriatric; Treatment of substance abuse and chronic pain; Cross-cultural addiction psychiatry; Research design; State regulations and confidentiality; Screening for drug and alcohol use disorders; Professionals with addictions; Gambling as a co-occurring behavioral problem; HIV, Hepatitis C and Substance Use Disorders; The use of urine drug screening.Individual Supervision

Individual Supervision is, for many trainees, the most important and powerful component of their fellowship. It is individualized, personal, immediate and clinically based. Optimally it is a forum to discuss all clinically relevant material with someone who has been around the block a few times.

Residents will have regularly scheduled supervision, which is usually divided as follows:- 1 hour/week individually with Rotation Supervisor- 1 hour/week with program director and other fellows- 2 hours/week with additional faculty

Rotation-based Clinical RoundsRotation-based clinical rounds provide rotation-based opportunities to discuss clinical cases and receive peer supervision. These rounds take place on the inpatient service each morning; in the outpatient rotation at McLean Hospital on Thursday from 1:30- 2:30 and at West End House on Thursday; and within the partial hospital rotation at various times throughout the week. Clinical rounds covers topics in addiction treatment and promote effective treatment resource utilization through qualityassurance and utilization review.

The MGH and McLean Departments of Psychiatry sponsor grand rounds from September through June. At McLean Hospital, these are held on Thursday 12-1 and at MGH on Friday 8:30-9:30.

Nationally and internationally known speakers are invited for formal presentations to the hospital community. These rounds are an excellent opportunity to meet and hear from some of the most well known individuals in the field. While most of the presentations are oriented to General Psychiatry, addiction psychiatry topics are generally included in the course of the year.

Journal ClubJournal Club takes place monthly. Articles are selected jointly by faculty and fellows for their relevance, timeliness and interest. Fellows are taught how to review different types of articles and how to use the information from the articles in clinical practice

McLean Hospital ADATP Research SeminarMcLean Hospital ADATP Research Seminar takes place monthly on Wednesday 1-2pm. Faculty present their current research at these seminars and topics may include research trials from the NIDA Clinical Trials Network studies, women and substance use disorders, HIV and substance use disorders, chronic pain and substance use disorders, among others.

Additional OpportunitiesA variety of other educational opportunities are available. The Partners Graduate Medical Education Office sponsors seminars and retreats during the year. In addiction, most fellows will attend the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry annual meeting in December. The Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School continuing medical education office sponsors a two-day conference on Addiction Psychiatry in March each year and this provides another opportunity for learning in the field as well.